The Zeta Project Season 3 Episode 1
by clutzattack
Summary: An attempt to continue the series through fanfiction. Note: the weird formatting is beyond my concern.


THE ZETA PROJECT

            SEASON THREE PROPOSAL

Disclosure:I am a college student. I have no money. Don't bother trying to sue me because you won't make a profit. Besides—It's just a fanfic. I'd like to give credit to Robert Goodman, and Liz Holzman for the original creation of the series. Their ideas are so much more creative than mine, and I can only hope to write a story that it at least one fifth as good as what they've accomplished so far. 

This fanfic is an attempt to continue the series, as if they were actually storylines that might possibly be turned into a cartoon episode someday.

"A New Hope" Ep. 1 Season 3

Outside of the Hyatt Restaurant  cars steadily pass back and forth, heading to their destinations with no care about anything else but getting there on time. Their thoughts are all superficial: "What's for dinner. Will there be traffic on the way there? I wonder when that new vid movie with Adam Heat is coming out…"  As they stop their car for the red light they briefly glance inside the restaurant at the people eating. A couple in the booth in the corner of the room catches their eye in particular. The man catches their attention even more so , as he seems to have a look of despair on his face. They begin to wonder what his story might be that caused his unhappiness, but, as the light turns green all thoughts of the couple drift from their head as they begin moving again.  Their thoughts return to the mindless repetitions of colloquial language, "Am I going to be late? This song on the radio is pretty cool…"  

"I can't believe he's gone… Now no one will believe me now,"  Zee said, disheartened.

"I told you. We'll find a way."

"It just feels like this is it. We've hit bottom."

"Yeah, things aren't looking too good. But when things do hit bottom, the only place left to go is up…" Ro replied stately.  She reached for another French fry from the plate in front of her.  They were only stopping at this restaurant momentarily so  that she could get something to eat before they were on the run again. It wasn't as if they were in a hurry to get somewhere else though. There was no real direction to their running anymore.  They'd escaped from the Noesis, or Dr. Selig's lab,  only to find that once they'd landed the escape vehicle they had no clue where they should go next, or what their next objective should be. 

At that time, Zee had just gone to the nearest dealership and purchased a motorcycle, and then sped off into the horizon with her arms wrapped around him, sitting on the back of the bike. They had been driving non-stop with no particular destination until Zee had suggested that they find someplace for her to eat. He'd stated that there was no point for her to be depressed and hungry. 

They'd found a restaurant, and had gone in. After they had sat down and the waitress came to their table she had ordered a small meal. She never ordered anything large because they never had a long time to sit down and enjoy it before having to run off, and occasionally, run off on the check.  The waitress had brought her meal out, minutes after she ordered it, which she was now enjoying. 

As she picked up another French fry, she couldn't help but admire the conscious effort that Zee put into her well being.  He always seemed overly concerned with the fact that she was human and had several needs which he tried very hard not to overlook—such as the need for her to eat, and sleep. As he was a robot, he didn't eat, and when he did shut off to recharge his power cells, it wasn't on a regular basis. She knew that it had to be a conscious effort because they were always on the run,  so it wasn't always convenient for them to check into a hotel or stop off somewhere to eat. Zee usually managed to work out something though.  Sometimes it would just be that she slept in the front seat of the car while he continued driving into the night. 

If one thing was weird about their situation though, it was how he never found anything better to do with himself than stare at her while she ate. It made her feel guilty as she knew that he was in cable of eating himself.  She was about to remind him how uncomfortable it made her feel when he stared at her while she ate, but then his gaze turned longingly to the watch that he'd picked up after Dr. Selig had dropped it on the Noesis.  It was all that he had left to remember Dr. Selig by.

"Quit staring at that thing," Ro said through a mouthful of food. It was worse for him to be reminiscing about the events than for her to feel uncomfortable with him watching her eat. 

"Sorry. It's just that I keep thinking about him. Is there anyway that we could have saved him?"

"What's happened, happened. You can't change the past, and dwelling on it's not going to help either. Why don't you put your circuits to a better use and go and pay for this…"

Zee nodded, then got up from the booth to go and pay for the food with his unlimited cred card. Ro watched him as he got up to follow her advice, hating herself for having to be so cruel and insensitive towards him as he was dealing with this great loss. But… one of them had to be strong and sensible about the situation. One of them had to keep a clear head. She admired him for how strong he was already being and how understanding he was about the situation. While she wasn't the one who had suffered the loss, she still felt incredibly bad. The search to find Dr. Selig had originally been Zee's quest, but somewhere in the process it had become a common goal.   She only hoped that they would find some new way to prove his innocence. They couldn't keep running forever, could they?

A few days earlier…

"Please have a seat," Colonel Lemack gestured as he sat down at his desk chair in his office at the NSA headquarters.  

"Thank you," Bennet replied, sitting down in one of the center of three chairs that were positioned across from Lemack's large wooden desk. Agent Rush pulled out the seat on his right, while Agent West took the one on his left. 

They had been invited to sit in with Bennet for a review consultation of Bennet's progress on the apprehension of Infiltration Unite Zeta. Lemack had seen it appropriate to have his review earlier than its original scheduled date, given the nature of the recent events regarding the destruction of the Noesis. 

 "Agent Rush, West, thank you for agreeing to sit in on this review meeting. As you two have also spent a lot of time with the Zeta Project Recovery mission, I felt it was practical that you should be here as well for its annual review," he said rather professionally.

"Thank you, sir," Rush said politely.

"Is that why we're here?" West asked stupidly. Bennett held his head in his hands, and sighed deeply. He didn't mind Rush being here for this consultation, but why West?

He briefly reviewed the contents of the open computer file labeled,  "The Zeta Project," to himself before going onto the business he'd planned to discuss during this meeting. "Agent Bennett. You've been working on the Zeta Project for quite some time now. Yet you have no synthoid to show for it. Just a bunch of reports of close encounters. The NSA likes to see results, Bennett…" His kind expression had turned to a more serious and stern one as he said this.

"Yes, sir, I'm quite well aware of that. But new information has come to my attention that  with consideration of, requires a reevaluation of the initial mission statement for this assignment." 

Rush looked at him curiously. "News? What news?" she thought.

"And what would this significant information be?" Lemack asked.

"It is quite possible that Zeta is innocent and that he really does have a conscious."

"What leads you to believe this?" Lemack asked anxiously, yet curiously. 

"On board the Noesis, just before it was destroyed, I overheard Dr. Selig confess that he was the one responsible for the mysterious module that we found inside Zeta. He said that it was programmed to cause Zeta to rethink his programming. In another sense, he gave him a conscious. He also mentioned, though, that it was a shame that the module never activated and Zeta became a killer like the other IUs," Bennett said rather officially. 

West stopped twisting and contorting the paper clip he'd picked off of  Lemack's desk, and stared at Bennett, disbelievingly. Rush looked very surprised at this news as well.

Lemack stared at him incredulously as well,  "Does anyone else know this?"

"Just the two agents who Selig was talking to. We have yet to identify who they were."

Lemack sighed, "Right on the government dime, and right under our noses…You know that this isn't enough to prove that Zeta has a conscious, though.  There's no documentation of such a module having ever been constructed. Until we get the testimony of the other two witnesses, we have nothing but your word to go by…" His voice wasn't accusative, but it made Bennett feel as if Lemack suspected him of some form of a crime. 

"I thought of that as well. All security video footage aboard the Noesis was lost when the Noesis exploded, so there will never be anything more than my word. There's no way we can find out who those workers were unless they come out and expose themselves. I also took the liberty to interrogate Sweet shortly after he was  apprehended on the Noesis, and sentenced to jail to see if he knew who those people were. He claims that he doesn't know. He also refused to tell us how he was able to sneak onboard the Noesis to begin with. It's my belief that he had help from an outside source, perhaps a renegade infiltration unit? " Bennet suggested.

"Before you go in that direction any further, I should inform you that  we found a match for the profile we got from the screened security footage of the intruder in the Sub Rosa terminal. "

"Who was it? Another one of Brother's Day's insiders?"

"Actually, it was one of our own—Dr. Marcus Edmund.  We've also interrogated Sweet since he's been confined to our custody. When questioned he was very adamant in not telling us anything about Dr. Edmund or anything else regarding to that day's events.  

Edmund was the holographic programmer for the Zeta Project.  He'd crafted a portable holomorphic projector  which he used to disguise himself as Dr. Selig to enter the terminal. While Sweet won't confirm or deny it, It is our belief that he is the one who handed the coordinates to Dr. Selig's lab over to his organization, and who helped Sweet get onboard the Noesis."

"Where is he now? Has be been contained for treason?" Bennett asked angrily. The thought that so many government agents were being disloyal really upset his temper.

"We can't find him. He hasn't been to his lab since the day the Noesis was destroyed. We've left several memos for him at his home phone, but he hasn't been there in days either. We're wondering if Edmund could have possibly have  been onboard the Noesis at the time of its destruction--and if he was—did he make it off in time?  Either way, we'll continue to try and get a hold of him. I should say though… if he really was the one who handed over the information, it would be a wise idea for him to stay incognito.  We won't know if he really was the one who handed the information over though unless Sweet becomes more sociable in the questioning chair."

"Edmund wasn't listed as being onboard the Noesis when it was evacuated." Bennett commented.

"That might not be entirely true. We're not entirely sure ourselves, which is why we can't confirm if he's alive or dead. We've accounted for all of the escape vehicles, and their passengers, except for one. We found the vehicle in Daly city the day before yesterday, but we have no clue who the passenger was. Whoever it was, they left no trace for us to find out who they were. It very well could have been Edmund."

"Or Zeta," Bennett commented.  

"Your conclusion that Zeta was onboard the Noesis could not be wrong either. Either one of them could have helped Sweet get past the Noesis security.  This project was too big for him to have accomplished it with his organization alone. Either way we will continue investigating the matter. Our biggest lead will be getting Sweet to reveal more secrets of the mystery of how this tragedy occurred.  Regardless of who caused the destruction of the Noesis, however,  Zeta is still government property. Even if he does have an extra module, it's nothing that we can't change by reformatting his memory drive, and by removing the chip. Now that we know that the chip is harmless, we need not be afraid of any side effects from tampering with it, and should easily be able to extract it. This is all pertinent on his apprehension, though…"

"I have been carefully rethinking our strategy for his recapture. Out next effort should prove much more effective."

"I hope so. He seems  to be quite the Houdini."

"Yes, he's definitely an accomplished escape artist. But, sir. It seems to me that there are now more important matters than apprehending Zeta."

"Like what Bennet?"

"With the new information that we have regarding Selig, shouldn't we be questioning whether any of the other IUs might possibly have this module installed in them as well?  If Selig managed to sneak in a conscious chip, what else could he have mysteriously installed under our eyes? His loyalty to the government has been questioned by this action. Can we be sure that any of his creations now will perform adequately? What about the new Semi-Organic Synthoids?"

"The first wave of the semi organics were destroyed along with the Noesis. We searched the wreckage for anything salvageable, but nothing seems to be turning up. It will be a few more months before we have another facility ready to produce them again—Of course that's depending on how easily we can locate and restore the back up files for his work.—However, in lieu of this new information, I will have a team organized to review the schematics and check and make sure that there are no hidden chips in the second wave of the semi-organics."

"Is that good enough? What about the past projects that Selig worked on? What about the other IUs?"

"Dr. Selig, and his experimentations, past or present, are above your clearance and concern.  But don't worry.  While  Dr. Selig did assist in the creation of the prototype for the first infiltration unit, known as the Zeta Project, after the first prototype the manufacturing of other units was moved to a different department, and he was moved to a different assignment. It is on our records that no extra modules were installed in the assembly line.  We can be pretty sure that Zeta is the only one with this module. Besides, none of the other units have shown this rebelliousness. I praise you for your enthusiasm. It's this kind of attitude and deductive thinking that we like to see in the NSA. However, we also expect our agents to know when they are being too inquisitive."

Bennett looked reproachfully at Lemack, as if he was dissatisfied with Lemack's answer and the repercussion.  Zeta had been functioning in parameters for his first dozen missions. What had caused the change? The change had been so sporadic. On what basis was Lemack making this observation? How did he know that they others wouldn't sporadically grow a conscious as well? The only answer that Bennett could think of was that Zeta had gone offline during the Brother's Day infiltration assignment and it was during that assignment that Brother's Day decided to activate the module. (If it really did work) But… Selig was the one who had put the module in.  How had they known? Was Selig in league with Brother's Day?  His suspicions were still high. It didn't seem as if Lemack was considering the seriousness of the situation. 

Lemack could sense this as well, and added on a side note, "I would like to remind you that due to the important nature of Selig's work, clearance into his files will remain the same, even though he is deceased. All  information regarding his experiments and work is still confidential, and is to be kept top secret. Unauthorized investigations into classified files will result in serious penalty and repercussions for those actions." Lemack paused so that Bennett could consider all that had just been said, then stated, "Your mission remains the same, and you are to abide by the initial mission statement."

 "Sir?" Rush clarified. "Is it really necessary to retain the same protocol when dealing with Zeta?" While she agreed that Zeta was still government property,  and needed to be recovered, was keeping the same mission statement still appropriate? The mission statement was that Zeta was dangerous, and was to be treated as a weapon… If he really did have a conscious then wouldn't it be more rational to treat him as someone who really is capable of making decisions? 

"As we do not know if there may be more modules, Zeta is still dangerous. Even if he is capable of making choices with his conscious, people are capable of making bad or wrong decisions. Even if he does have a conscious, he has not been taught what's right or wrong, at least not what's right or wrong by our standards. He's clearly been taught the difference between following orders, and not following orders. He's a willing subordinate and must be dealt with accordingly.  Zeta may like the thought of being able to make choices for himself, which will cause him to resist capture. In this sense, he is uncooperative, and should be dealt with in accordance with NSA procedure for non-passive suspects."

"You sure we can't just let him go?" West asked. The innocent look on his face made it obvious that he clearly was ignorant, and wasn't trying to be sardonically funny, or that he was purposely trying to get in trouble.

"How this one ever got promoted out of training, or assigned to my project is beyond my comprehension…" Bennett sighed.

"I'm betting a rat chewed through the electrical wires of the testing equipment, causing a short in the machine that registered the agents to their assignments…" Rush teased.

The general sighed, then explained, "We can't simply let him go because we'd have to make a public announcement about the recall of their warrant. "

West somehow found the nerve to ask another question, "And why would that be bad?"

The colonel turned to Bennett and Rush, and asked, "Does he ever think?"

"I've found that  thinking about that kind of thing causes high stress levels," Bennett replied.

Lemack continued explaining in an irritated tone, which turned into shouting by the time that he was finished. "What do you think the population will say when they find out that one unit went wrong, and that it wasn't a result of terrorist activity? Do you think that they'd trust us with their security?  The NSA would have to go through a large inspection and audit! With inspectors investigating all of out equipment, it will be impossible to get anything done, which will further delay the commemoration of the new semi organics! Selig's death  and the ruin of the Noesis has come as quite a tragedy, and at a very inconvenient time.  We are trying very hard to get things back into order, but quite frankly, we've taken a large hit.  The last thing we need is public opinion getting in the way, and public doubt!  We can't let the civilians know that this accident happened internally! They're much more confident in our abilities if they believe that terrorists caused this malfunction rather than one of our own!" 

West was rather humbled by this experience, and decided that he'd remain quiet for the rest of the consultation. Rush looked at him, with a look that said, "You really should reconsider your profession."

"Thank you, Bennet, Rush…. West. Retrieve the synthoid.  That will be all. I'll be watching your progress more closely from now on…" the colonel dismissed them.

Outside of the colonel's office, Bennet wiped the sweat from his brow. That had been a tough review. "Agent Rush."

"Yes sir?"

"I want you to bring me the enrollment forms for this upcoming training session?"

"Getting back in shape?"

"No. They're for West. See if there are any courses on proper conduct for meetings with supervising authorities. Enroll him immediately."

"But, sir!" West protested.

Bennet stopped walking, and looked over his shoulder, giving West an icy stare. "Yes?" he asked coldly.

West gulped, and changed his mind about what he was going to say. "Never mind!" he said sheepishly.

"That's what I thought," Bennet said, then headed off, leaving Rush and West alone.

"You've really done it this time," Rush commented, then headed off as well. 

"What'd I do?"  

Agent Bennett brooded in his office. He thought about the escape pod that Lemack had mentioned. He sat at his computer and accessed the files regarding it. They were not under clearance, so he was able to view them.  Daly city… It was a strange place for an escape vehicle to land. There weren't any major cities nearby. No government institutions to return to. It was just the kind of place for a refugee to start off again in… He picked up his phone and dialed the operator of the NSA, requesting for her to send Agent Rush to his office for a meeting. 

When he'd finished with his phone call he sat back  in his chair and thought some more. There was so much information that Lemack was looking over regarding this case. He truly believed that Lemack was purposely ignoring this conspiracy. But why? Dr. Selig's words echoed in his thoughts, "Shame. I had plans for that one…" He hadn't mentioned this to Lemack. Maybe if he had, Colonel Lemack would have taken him more seriously. He could only wonder, "What plans? What else could he want with Zeta? What was his true goal? What was the purpose of this cover up story? Why give Zeta a conscious? Was it to keep him busy chasing after Zeta while Selig worked on another project behind their backs? What was his connection with Brother's Day? What was he getting for making a deal with them? "

His thoughts were interrupted with a knock on his door. "Come in!" he beckoned.

Rush let herself into his office. "Agent Rush, reporting as requested.

"Very good," he said, mentally noting her punctuality and eagerness in her response from his memo. "Assemble the team. I want you to have them ready to go by this afternoon. You heard Colonel Lemack's orders as well as I did. We're going to get us a synthoid."

"Yes sir!"

Inside the NSA vehicle, Agent Bennet debriefed his crew. "Your orders are to apprehend the synthoid. Colonel Lemack is anxious for results. Let's not disappoint him. We will be working with a new strategy to apprehend the synthoid. No more outward advances. We're going to  try a covert, more subtle attempt. This will give them less warning, and less time to run away. Agent Rush will debrief you with the current information we have on the synthoid's location."

"Thank you, sir," Rush said, taking the floor.

"The NSA traced the homing signal of the escape pod to this point," she said, while pointing to the location on a large map that she'd brought up on a large display screen in the hull of the NSA vehicle. "The pod was located at Daly city, the day before yesterday.  Upon inspection of the escape vehicle they found it to be abandoned, and gave up. However, this is where we took over the investigation. From there we got a directory of all of the hotels, car rental agencies and dealerships, as well as the local bus routs and train stations within a twenty mile radius.  Upon inspection of all of the different vehicle dealerships, there was only one transaction where the vehicle was completely paid in full. The ehicle we are looking for is a red, Speedster motorcycle. All other sales in the different dealerships were financed in one form or another."

Bennett interrupted Rush momentarily, "It is our belief that it was Zeta who purchased the vehicle, as it is unlikely that anyone else would be able to pay in full for such a large purchase."

"Why doesn't the NSA cut off his cred card so that he can't use it?" West asked. It was one of the more intelligent questions that he'd asked in his entire career at the NSA.

"There's just one inexhaustible account for which all infiltration unit cred cards are linked to. It would be impossible to only limit Zeta's card without having to close the entire account. To change all other infiltration units' cred cards to a different account would require a long recall process to bring each of them in, as well as a lot of  accounting changes that would take forever to process. When Zeta uses his cred card the transaction is logged with the retailer. However, it is only when the retailer sends in a claim do we know when and where he's used it. It is usually days afterwards that we find this information out though. While the information we discover may be a little past dated, the expenditures allows us to follow him.  It would be counter productive to cut off his funds."

"Oh."

Rush continued, "Local highway patrol have reported that the motorcycle was seen in Hayward then in Concord, which is only about four hours from here. If we're quick, we may be able to catch up and find them in the city somewhere."

"Good work, Rush," Bennett took over again. "You heard her. Let's go!" Bennet ordered. 

Back at the restaurant…

Zee nonchalantly headed up to the cashier to pay for the check. He knew that Ro was mourning Dr. Selig's death as well. She did a good job of hiding it behind her "tough" attitude. He'd been with her long enough to know that this was what it was, and that she really wasn't insensitive as she was coming off to be. There was no one in front of him in the line for the cash register. He politely asked for the bill for the booth they'd been sitting at. While the cashier calculated the expenses, his gaze drifted off to the building across the street. His robotic eyes narrowed as the magnification increased. He could see the tail fin of the NSA vehicle parked around the corner of the building. There were agents in the building as well. Some of them were dressed in civilian clothing. He recognized them in their disguises, only because of the picture comparison he quickly ran up with the agent profile database for the NSA. There was one on the street right by their motorcycle. The agent was pretending to be preoccupied with the vid news he had in front of him, but it was obvious that his attention was actually on their vehicle. 

His attention sharply returned to the transaction with the cashier as she told him the total. He swiped his card through the automated teller.

 "Thank you, and have a nice day," the cashier told him politely. 

He didn't reply, but hurried back to the booth where Ro is sitting. "Ro! Agents!" He reached for her arms, and pulled her up out of the booth. He then dragged her over to the side wall, out of sight from the outside of the restaurant. 

"How'd they find us this time?" Ro asked, anxiously looking around.

"One of the agents seems particularly interested in our motorcycle" he replied deductively. 

Ro humorously replied, "I knew we shouldn't have doubled parked in that red zone…"

Zee continued in his explanation, "They must have somehow identified it as ours and followed it."

"And how would they do that?"

"They could have gotten the license number from the dealership and followed it here."

"And how would they have known what dealership to ask for?"

"It's quite possible that the escape pod we used has a built in homing beacon for rescue efforts. They could have traced that signal to the pod, then scouted around the city until they found where we got the bike... They've followed it all the way here…"

"Well come on, then! Let's go!" Ro said, grabbing his arm, ready to run out of the front door. Zee restrained her, however.

"They're in the building across the street, and there's one on the corner. Some of them are disguised as civilians. They don't seem to be moving in on us just yet. I think they're waiting for us to come out to them. "

"Well what are we going to do then?" Ro asked dramatically.

"You wait right here for a minute. I'm going to see if there's an exit through the back kitchen. If not, then we'll worry about taking on the agents," Zee said as he holomorphed into a chef's outfit.  He went over to the double swinging doors that led in to the kitchen and let himself in.

"Just great!" Ro said, as she sat down in a nearby booth. She disliked being left out in the open like this. She grabbed a menu from off of one of the tables, and buried her face behind it. At least no one had been in that section of the restaurant to see Zee holomorph. She still had the holomorphic bracelet, but what good would that do if the agents had their holomorph viewers like they usually did? There also wasn't anything useful for her to take a picture of to holomorph into.

"It's the same bike as the one purchased from the dealer."

"Very good. Follow me in, but hold your positions until I give the order," Bennett said, as he began to move in towards the restaurant. He casually entered it with Rush as if they were regular guests who were going out for a business lunch. Bennett and Rush moved out of the doorway, and over to the side of the room so they wouldn't be so conspicuous.  They sat down at a small table, then  Bennett pulled out his holomorph viewers from his coat pocket. There were several couples sitting down, eating, all very animated in conversation. Others were more toned down. None seemed very aware of his presence in the room.  He scanned the entire room, but none of the people in it were fake.  It was as he was looking around that he noticed another section of the restaurant seating area. He put away his holoviewers, "Wait here," he told Rush, then casually made his way across to the other side of the restaurant. There he spied one customer who was intently reading the menu, and who appeared to have really bad eye sight when it came to reading small print, or was someone who didn't want to be seen…

Ro heard the sound of the door to the restaurant open then close.  She couldn't see who it was from where she was sitting. Could it be the agents? They usually made a louder entrance whenever they went somewhere. She peered over the top of her menu to see who it was. She couldn't see anyone. Could it be an agent? She wondered what she should do. Should she try and run out the front door? Should she play it cool, and hope that it wasn't an agent, or that they might not see her? Should she try and find Zee in the kitchen? Or would that be bad because it could possibly lead the NSA to him? Maybe she could pretend like she was here by herself? With a quick judgment call she decided to get up from the booth to go and find Zee in the back.

As she was getting ready to go out through the kitchen doors to warn Zee,  a firm hand grabbed her shoulder from behind, "Going somewhere, Ms. Rowen?" Bennett asked, rather seriously. 

Ro slowly turned around. She was face to face to face with Bennett. "Uh, yeah. I was just gonna go have a word with the chef."

"Where's the synthoid?" he persistently asks, as he advances towards her. Ro took a step back ward, only to feel the wall behind her. Trapped!  "Where's the synthoid?" Bennett repeated himself, as he reached out to take a hold of Ro. 

 As he was reaching out to grab her arms, Ro deftly leaned backward and  sideways onto the closest of the kitchen doors causing it to swing open. She grabbed onto the door jam so she wouldn't fall through it herself.  As Bennett reached for her, he found himself falling through the open doorway as he tripped over her extended foot. Fortunately, or unfortunately, one of the real chefs with a fully loaded platter of food, broke his fall, while falling to the floor with him.   The platter of food he was carrying made a thunderous crashing sound, while a fire work display of Ceasar salad, shrimp scampi, and garlic bread  flew in every direction.  

The sound  of the crashing platter caught Zee's attention. "Ro!" he shouts. 

Right here," she answered as she scrambled over Bennett as he lay in a heap on the floor. While lying on the ground, he managed to pull out his communicator, "MOVE IN!" he shouted.

The team of agents across the street hurried in towards the restaurant.  Among those in the group who had been waiting for Bennett's signal before moving in was West.  "Finally we're going to get some action!" he shouted excitedly as he began the charge across the street to go and provide back up. 

Rush who had been inside the restaurant already before Bennett had given the approval to move in, jumped from her position inside of the restaurant the instant that Bennett had fallen through the doorway. She'd already had her  EMP phaser drawn and was hurrying to the kitchen doors. She jumped over Bennett  who was lying in the doorway. "FREEZE! NSA! DON'T MOVE!" she ordered Ro, as well as everyone else in the kitchen.  A second later, Bennett was off of the ground as well. Several other agents were coming through the front door of the restaurant. Everyone who had been previously unconcerned had stopped eating and were intently watching the parade of agents file in. 

Rush  immediately recognized Zee, even though he was dressed as one of the chefs. "FREEZE ZETA!" she shouted. As he's obviously been recognized, he instantaneously holomorphed back into his regular likeness. The whole kitchen staff stood there amazed and shocked, but not enough so that they felt inspired to take action against him. With a short glance at Rush, Zee turned to run. As Rush was about to fire a shot, Ro grabbed a pot off of its hook above the stove and swung it upwards under her arm, knocking her EMP gun out of her hands, as well as having bruised  the underside of her arm. Rush recoiled, cradling the hand that she'd held her gun in. 

West was the first of the procession of agents to being to file into the kitchen. Zee reached for one of the pizza trays which were conveniently stacked on the shelf just to the right off him. Throwing it like an incredibly large Frisbee, the pizza pan sailed across the kitchen, catching West in the stomach, and knowing him down, causing a domino effect to the agents behind him.

With the agents scrambling to untangle themselves from each other and get up, Ro squeezed through the narrow passage way of the kitchen over to Zee.

"This way!" he said, taking her hand and guiding her through the maze of the kitchen.

"AFTER THEM!" Bennett shouted to the group of agents. He was not going to let them escape again! They were heading towards the back exit. He was glad that he'd thought ahead and had stationed some agents in the back alley way to wait for them in case they did try to run out the back.

Being too surprised and clueless to bother to try and stop the party, the kitchen staff remained in active except to move out of the way to let the running parties through. As Zee and Ro made their way to the back door of the kitchen they could hear Bennett, Rush, and West following right behind them. Zee reached behind him and grabbed Ro's arm, then pulled her in front of him for a moment. When she was safely out of the way he reached behind him and pulled a large soup pot off of the hot stove, throwing it on the ground between them and the agents.  

"Whoa!" Bennett yelled, taking a leap backwards as the contents of the pot spilt all over the floor. The scalding hot contents of the pot splashed all over the floor, causing the agents to stop running for a moment, to make sure that they don't come in contact with the hot soup. Having been delayed for a moment, Bennett quickly recovered and continue to chase after Zee and Ro. Rush followed promptly behind him, running skillfully over the wet, slippery floor.

West wasn't as fortunate to have a keen sense of balance, and the ability to tread on slick ground. As he attempted to run through the mess, his shoe skidded on the wet tiles, and he lost his ground and skidded on the ground forward straight into Rush and Bennett, knocking them to the ground.

Now covered in the remnants of what once was beef stew Bennett thought to himself, "A blind elephant with four left feet would be less clumsy." It would be up to the agents he stationed behind the building to stop them now…

Ro turned the handle of the back door, then threw the door wide open, running through it with Zee right behind her. She slammed the door behind her, not bothering to look back.  They were in the back alley behind the kitchen now. 

"Hold it right there!" the shaky voice of the agent commands. This was his first assignment, and he was rather nervous about it. He'd actually been hoping that he would be assigned to guard the back alley because he hadn't been expecting that the synthoid would get past the indoor team. Apparently he'd put too much faith in his fellow team members, as they hadn't been able to stop Zee and Ro. The agent's partner was more experienced, but had not really had much field work experience. Usually he was the communications expert on the  NSA vehicle, or he researched and tracked down where Ro and Zee went, as well as writing up the file reports from their encounters. This time, he would have a first hand account. 

The two agents held their EMP guns up dignified, and ready to fire if need be. The more experienced agent repeated, "Don't move, or we will be forced to open fire! Put your hands up, slowly, you're under arrest!"  
            "Zee! What do we do?" Ro asked frantically. She hadn't thought that the NSA was clever enough to start guarding the back door. Apparently they were though…

Zee noticed a large garbage bin just across from them on the other wall of the alley. "Run!" he tells her. Not really wanting to leave without knowing that  he would be right behind her she hesitates, then takes off running as he told her to. She has no reason to fear the EMP pulses, as they wouldn't have any effect on her. However they would immobilize Zee. As she began to run, Zee's robotic hand shot out and grabbed the garbage bin across the alley. In a swift movement, he dragged it in front of him,  between them and the agents. Startled, from this drastic movement, they fired their EMP guns. Their shots hit the broad side of the garbage dumpster. They'd missed their target and they were now blocked off from following them because the garbage bin was now in their way. 

Bennett stormed through the door, his suit stained with soup and dirt from the kitchen floor. He could clearly see Zee, holding Ro's hand as they ran down the alley way together. "AFTER THEM!" he shouted. He ran over to the garbage bin to help shove it off to the side again and to begin to chase Ro and Zee down the alley. A few agents follow the procession down the alley as well.

Zee and Ro ran across the empty street towards a small, older-looking hotel complex on the other side. It is fortunate for them that as the agents get to the street, the light has turned green again, and the steady stream of cars begins to flow. In short increments they rush out into the street, being very careful not to get hit by a car,  they make short, brief advancements through the traffic to get to the other side catch up with Ro and Zee. 

"Where do we go?" Ro asks, slightly out of breath. 

Zee was quick to answer, "This way!" he said, leading her around to the side of the building. With his encryption abilities, he unlocked the door on the side then entered into the building.  Inside, they found themselves in the dry-cleaning room of a hotel. 

"Here! Hold onto this!" Zee said to Ro, tossing her one of the garment bags. Ro caught it and clutched it tightly to her chest, not knowing why. It would only add weight, and be a bulky nuisance in their escape.

"What's this for?" 

With no time to respond as the as the agents were beginning to pound at the door in their attempts to get it open he doesn't answer her, but yells, "This way!" 

They ran out of the dry cleaning room, and out into the open hallway. Less than a minute later, the side door in the hotel burst open, and the agents hurried in after them.  "FOLLOW THEM,!" Bennett shouted to his team.

Zee and Ro ran all the way to the front end of the hotel. The concierge  gave them a strange look as she watched them come to an abrupt stop, right in the middle of the Lobby. She doesn't make any comment however, as she is  preoccupied with another guest, and doesn't want to be rude by abandoning the guest to find out what's up with this couple. It is only when the agents chasing after them begin running in that  she became curious enough to ask one of them what was going on. 

"Don't worry. NSA business. We'll be done here shortly," they'd told her. 

She reached for the phone to call the hotel security. However, with their slow reaction times, whatever the issue was, it might be resolved by the time that the security made it to the lobby. 

"To the elevator!" Zee said, pulling her arm off in its direction.

 "Wouldn't the stairs be better?" Ro asked as she ran over  to the single elevator in the hotel, which was waiting on the ground floor with its doors wide open. 

"The elevator is much quicker," Zee replied. Luckily, there was no one else in the elevator, when they dashed inside. Zee quickly pushed the "close doors" button. 

"Don't let them get away!" Bennett yelled. Just as the doors to the elevator were about to close, Bennett ran forward to throw his arm, and leg in between the doors to stop them from shutting.  With his cable link, Zee overrode  the elevator's safety control, telling it to continue closing, regardless of the obstruction in the way. 

"See you on the top floor!" Ro taunted to Bennet, as the door began to shut again.  Seeing that his arm and leg was about to be crushed, Bennett withdrew them quickly. 

The doors closed the rest of the way and the elevator slowly began to rise. As the hotel they'd run into was fairly old, the elevator that they were in was old too. It's ascent to the top floor was slower than Ro would have liked. She  wouldn't be surprised if the feds could beat them to the top by running up the stairs.  

From the ground floor, Bennett watched as the dial indicating what floor the elevator is on, begin to slowly rise. "They're taking the elevator up. To the service elevator! HURRY!" he shouted. 

The service elevator was located behind the door that said "Employees Only." It was used for the cleaning maid to get her card from floor to floor, or to take up a guest's luggage to their floor without having to tie up the elevator for the guests. The agents,  rushed over to it. It was on the ground floor with its doors open just as the elevator that Ro and Zee had jumped into had been.  Rush was in the lead as she and a few other agents filed into the elevator, then pushed the button to take them to the top floor. 

Other agents ran over to the stair entrance right next to the elevators. They began to hurry up the stairs, trying to out climb the slow-moving elevator, while dropping off an agent every other floor to make sure that Ro and Zee didn't get off earlier than the top floor.  Rush listened to hear if the other elevator was still ascending. She couldn't tell from the noise that the elevator she was in was making.  She didn't think that they'd get off on another floor as if they went to the top they could try and use the roof access to find their way out of the building and back outside.  One thing was for sure, this elevator was moving a lot quicker than the main one as it didn't need to go slowly for guests who were motion sickness prone. 

In the elevator, Zee took the garment bag back from Ro. He quickly opened the bag to find a rather professional business suit inside. It was already cleaned and pressed, ready to wear. Zee hurriedly began to put the hotel guest's suit on. "What are you doing?" Ro asked rather skeptically.

"When the elevator stops on the top floor. Run and hide for a couple of minutes," Zee told her as he continued to get dressed in the guest's outfit. "Take the bag with you," he added, handing the empty garment bag to Ro. 

Not knowing what else to do with it, she folded it over a few times.  Zee looked rather strange in the guest's clothing. The pants definitely didn't fit correctly because Zee didn't have much of a waist, but when he buttoned the suit coat, it was unnoticeable.  He looked very handsome when he was finished getting dressed, which he'd managed to do in under a minute.

Once he was finished getting dressed he connected himself to the control panel of the elevator again with his cable. In a second he gave the elevator instructions to stop on the top floor, then continue down to the bottom floor without stopping. He disconnected his cable as the elevator slowly came to a stop at the top floor. The doors opened and they ran out. Zee holomorphed into an older-looking business man, while Ro took off with the bag. She had to find some place to hide for a few minutes. Zee pushed the downward call button  for the elevator, then contentedly set himself up as if he'd was waiting for the elevator to come pick him up. Ro quickly hurried around the corner and hid herself against the wall behind the ice machine.

The service elevator stopped and Rush was the first to run out and over to where the main elevator would be stopping. She came running around the corner of the hotel floor only a few seconds after Zee had pushed the button.  She was breathing heavily in anxiety. She saw the business man waiting for the elevator to pick him up, and was feeling very triumphant, having thought that they'd managed to beat the elevator up to the top, until she realized that it was now traveling back down. She shouted behind her to all of the other agents who had followed her, "They're heading back down! Someone check the stairway!"

There were several grunts and groans as the agents began to file back to the elevator, then some to the stairwell. Rush turned to follow them, but stopped herself in her tracks. She reached out to touch the man on his shoulder. 

"Can I help you madame?" Zee asked with a professional attitude, as  Rush touched his shoulder.

"Nothing, sorry," she apologized, then hurried back on her way. She'd felt that the clothing was real. It wasn't just a holograph, so it couldn't be Zeta. How clever of Zeta to have them hurry all the way to the top of the hotel, only to have them need turn around and head back down. It was just the kind of delay that would allow them to escape. They would definitely make it to the bottom before they got there… Bennett was not going to be pleased that they'd let them get away. 

As soon as Rush had left, Zee waited a second or two before going off to find Ro. She came out from behind the ice machine when she heard him coming. "You're getting too good at that," she teased him.

"We're not safe yet," he replied. "We still need to get out of the building."

"You mean we can't just rent a room and spend the night?" she teased him again. He shed the clothing in a minute, and stuffed the garment back into the bag carelessly, leaving it by one of the hotel bedroom doors. Some cleaner would come by and would rewash it again, then return it to the room number whose receipt was stapled to the bag.  

"The fire escape," Zee directed  her.   He headed over to the window, and opened it. He first looked down below to see if there are any agents waiting for them. There were none. Leading the way he crawled through the window first. Ro followed behind him. They then quickly scaled the ladders down to the bottom street level, being careful to keep an eye out for the NSA vehicle. After making it to the street level without being seen,  they hopped on the first bus that came their way. They weren't going to bother to try and make it back to the motorcycle. From their past experiences they'd found that public transportation less easy to track.  They had successfully escaped.

 "Sir, we lost them," Rush regretfully announced to Bennett.

In his anger, he pounded his fist on the wall of the hotel causing a picture to fall off of its hook. Next time… Next time they would be successful. 

Safe Elsewhere— Most likely in a Ground Wire Café somewhere.

"How long can we keep running?" Zee asked Ro. His voice was rather solemn as he asked this.

"As long as it takes!" Ro said encouragingly. 

Zee looked over at Ro. She was such a petite figure, so small and fragile it seemed compared to his titanium, massive body. "Your anatomy isn't structured for this kind of endurance and stress…"

"Hey! You don't hear me complaining about it!" Ro replied, almost as if she was offended for him thinking that she couldn't keep up.

"…I'm worried about you…" Zee said quietly. He didn't know what he would do if anything were to happen to her.

Ro took on a more serious attitude. Zee was deeply concerned about her. She couldn't just laugh this off. She had to think of a solution. Something to comfort him and reassure him. She said the first thing that came to her mind, "Look. Let's agree on this. I'll run as far as I can. When I can't run any further I want you to keep going." Her voice became more heartier as she added, "Don't worry about me. I've made it on my own before. Someday I'll catch up with you again!"

Zee had an impressing thought, "If you can't make it with me. I don't want to keep running." He then commented, "What about that gang you were mixed up with when I first met you?"

"Ah, them!" Ro said while loftily flicking her hand, "After escaping the feds so many times now, they're pushovers!"

Zee looked at her skeptically while raising one of his eyebrows in disbelief, but didn't comment about how he didn't think that she would do well being off on her own again. Rather than pursue that topic, he changed the subject, "Perhaps we should leave the country?"

"What? And have an international warrant  on our heads too? No thank you!"

There was a short moment where neither said anything else, until  Ro broke the silence, "You know, I've been thinking. Selig must have had practice modules, a prototype, notes, or the schematics for the module he put inside of you. Maybe we could find the trial modules or the schematics for it, and with it—prove that it is possible for you to have a conscious."

"It wouldn't prove that the extra module inside of me is the same as the one on the schematic drawing. Bennett would want to take the module out for comparison. If that ever happened, I don't see what motivation he would have to put it back in."

Ro thought of another possible solution, "You said that you once wanted to compare your memory with the one at the facility you used to return to after your missions. Would it be possible to upload your memory of Dr. Selig there, and have it sent to Bennett? Maybe after seeing Dr. Selig's confession for themselves they'd believe you?"

"It's possible. But I'm sure that they'd accuse me of having faked the footage. We'd need a combination of the module schematics and the video footage for them to even remotely believe me. Even then, there's no telling if they'd count my evidence as legit."

"Then you'd also have the problem of explaining what you were doing on the Noesis on the same day it was destroyed," Ro realized the flaw in her plan. "They'd also want to know how you got past their security. What will they think when you tell them that we hitched a ride on the sub with Sweet and the rest of his organization?"

"We can get Dr. Marcus Edmund to testify that I was only infiltrating on his behalf. If Sweet confesses that he was the one who was twisting Edmund's arm, in the first place, that would help too."

            "So where do we start?"

            "We'll need access to the Sub Rosa Terminal to get the personal info on Dr. Selig and his assistant, Andrea Denoso. We'll need Selig's personal info because I highly doubt that he would keep such the schematics for the module in the government's computers and file records. Most likely, if he did have a draft of the schematics, it would be on his home, personal computer. Such information will be limited in quantity, and hard to get a hold of. As I don't have the retinal scans to get into the Sub Rosa terminal, we need to find Edmund. While I don't think he'll want to break into the Sub Rosa terminal again, I can copy the retinal scan that he used last time to get in, so he won't have to be involved."

            "WAIT!" Ro stopped Zee in his explanation. "If Selig and Andrea are dead, then why all the secrecy around them still?"

            "Selig's work is still very important. With the destruction of the Noesis, most of his research and records of his research were destroyed. The government will most likely have complete control over his personal information because they will be using it to scrape for more clues of documentation of his work. They can't afford to lose the back up files for the semi-organics, now that they've lost the originals and the source of the documents… Brother's Day will most likely be after those documents as well, in their efforts to continue to delay the semi-organics coming online again."

            "Why do they hate them so much?"

            "They're afraid that the semi-organics as well as all synthoids willl replace mankind. The government has stepped up to phase 2 with the IUs. Now, they will infiltrate, destroy our enemy, and take their place as a spy for the NSA."

            "Sounds pretty serious."

            "It is. Getting the information will be hard. Hopefully Edmund will be able to help us, or if not give us another lead."

            "Well let's find Edmund then… He owes us a favor and it's time to cash in."


End file.
